Bombs Over Bangalore

About two weeks ago there were some bombs that went off in Bangalore City. There were 8 explosions in the afternoon. The blasts were spread strategically over the entire city. Several were injured and one person was killed- in Bangalore.

In Andrhabad there were more than a dozen blasts. This time the casualties were more numerous. At least 30 people were killed and dozens more were injured.

At this point there are no leads for the police to follow, no motives from the attackers beyond cowardly malicious violence. No group came forward.

What a sad day for India. Especially South India. People here tend to frown on violent acts and seem to genuinely care about each other. The kindness that exists here is phenomenal. And the violence that happens is far less frequent than in the North in Delhi or up in Kashmir. What is interesting are the economic and political dynamics that are changing the ways people interact with one another. These are some sad changes happening.

One day Em and I were in a rickshaw sitting in traffic. We were on the way to watch our friend's metal band "Nyeh!" perform. They're fantastic if you like metal by the way. Anyhow, our auto driver got impatient while sitting in traffic (happens often) and decided to take some back alleys and side streets. This usually means they're running up the meter and it's time to use some direct verbal persuasion. We knew what he was doing though- he was one of the really nice rickshaw drivers that's not trying to rip you off. So we're barrelling through the back alley ways, late for a show when on the side of the road we see a man having a seizure... like a bad one... as if there is such a thing as a good seizure. Nobody is helping the guy, they're just looking at him flailing around and foaming at the mouth. Our rickshaw driver is the only one with enough balls to help the helpless. He didn't care about his fare or the fact that we were late (nor did we), screeched the rick to a hault and bailed out to help this man, protecting his head from the pavement and wiping his face with cold water.

After a good solid minute of the seizure the man finally was able to relax a little and came back to life. He was scared. We were scared for him. As it turns out he is an eppileptic and his seizures are brought on by any number of things from food choice to stress to lights. He had information in his pocket that explained his situation better than he could in his disoriented state. Also, he spoke Tamil.

The native tongue in Karnataka is Kannada ( like Canada as it would be spoken by a British person, only with a slight emphasis on the second "n"). The rickshaw driver spoke a little Tamil, but fortunately there were some teenage boys that stopped who have been learning Tamil in school. There are like 5 languages commonly spoken in Karnataka. Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, English... That's just what I can name. Each state has it's own state language, though there are dialects upon dialects and small sects of people in rural areas that speak some very random languages. Though the National Language is Hindi.... lot's of folks don't speak it and it seems that even fewer speak more than a handfull of words in English.

So it turns out that this man, in his middle 20's just came from the doctor. He didn't have the money to get the medication he needed, and he was being sent back to Tamil Nadu for some other treatment. He had very little money, no food or water and could very easily have started having a seizure while crossing the street. Since crossing the street here is like playing Frogger in real life, shit man, that's hazardous. We gave him enough money to get to Tamil Nadu on the train, to eat for a couple of days and to buy his medication. For me it would be like a half day of work in the US- Giving that is worth every penny to me, every rupee. I hope he made it to Tamil Nadu and I hope he can get the help he needs. I will never forget that experience.

This is something I have learned about after the fact. The people that were standing around didn't do so because they didn't know how or want to help this man. They stood out of fear. There is a fear here based in political corruption, set ups and swindling. Apparently people have been set up and been blamed for another person's death. Nobody wants to get framed for trying to help someone and having them die while all you're doing is trying to help a fellow human in need. So people stand and look on in fear of legal and political repercussions... gosh... it's starting to sound like the states. It's people like our rickshaw driver, who don't care about the system but that care about real life, that we need so desperately in this world of sheeple.

There is a difference in this though. I'm going to jump back to the bombings.

I was supposed to go from Varkala on a 20 hour train ride to Bangalore the day the bombings occured. I had cancelled my train tickets because Emily was stupid sick. I'm talking cant walk or move or talk kind of sick. I think it was a blessing, because I very well could have been anywhere near where those blasts occurred. You just never know. I'm thankful to have not been there.

Here's something interesting though. In the U.S. if 8 bombs went off in L.A. or San Fran or Portland or oh... say... New York... The media would surely be talking of it for a month. It would be sensationalized and glowing with "Terrorism" and a "war" on some other kind of intangible idea. They would be feeding the nation the usual healthy dose of fear, calling for retaliation in some capacity, trying to place blame on religious groups or that damn "rock and or roll" music. No doubt the majority of the people that watch the glowing screen would surely suckle the teat of sensationalism and go buy "Anti-Terrorism Spray!!! All New From the Makers of Raid. " You know, S.C. Johnson Wax (a family company), Johnson and Johnson (a family company), Philip Morris and Kraft and Heinz and AOL Time Warner and the Federal Reserve Bank of America and the Rockafellers (likely all part of the same very wealthy family company). Not only would people be affraid, but they would buy into something that was fed to them as a solution to either be able to avoid this kind of danger; (by locking yourself into a bulletproof room sealed with plastic and duct tape, hiding under a bedspread beneath the safety of an upside down refrigerator box clutching your "ANTI-TERRORIST SPRAY!!!", a framed picture of Pat Robertson and your Gideon's Bible) and/or would buy into the idea of a solution- by going to war to try to make peace, no matter how counter productive.

My point is...

Here, when the bombs blasted and people died it seemed to be more important that something tragic happened, people died and that it was truly a sad day for a country, a people that pretty much maintain a stance on non-violence. Things just shut down in the emotions of the people. No one spoke of being affraid to go out, they spoke of being saddened that people could be so pointlessly heartless. I won't talk about their government's desire to have a nuclear program more than just to say- the biggest fear in the blood of the east has to do with the rich white men from the west, their lust for wealth and power and their willingness to break the rules and dodge any principles of schivalry or ethics to attain their goal.

I think we all know that unless we choose to rise as people- independently of governments and laws placed upon us, but together as humans supporting the positive and selfless acts of other real humans, for the good of mankind and not the stock market and for just a small portion of mankind, we will continue to be held down by greed and by money and materialism and violence. Is that what we want as our human legacy? When we finally rape the Earth for all she is worth and move on to Mars to rape her too, what will Martian Jesus think? Ask yourselves people... What Would Martian Jesus Do?


So, on the talks of "freedom". There have been clubs here, that have been shut down for playing live music. There is something against live music that is not classical western music or the native Hindustani or Carnatic music. Even those, you must have permission from the "authorities" before you can hold a gathering. Permission means (give us money).



I CALL SHENANNEGANS!!!! WHAT A LOAD OF SHIT!

Lemme explain... my friends in the metal band, have friends in other bands... there is quite a thriving music community in Bangalore. Each Sunday they try to gather in Cubbon Park for Sunday Jam, and each Sunday they are kicked out by the cops. Private establishments will have live bands play... until they are shut down by the cops. Why would a peaceful gathering be shut down simply because of the kind of music they're playing?

Yesterday I attended Sunday Jam in the Park. There were about 40 people there between musicians and onlookers enjoying the company of like-minded peaceful music people. It was all acoustic. There were a total of fiveor six guitarists and two djembe drums... what could be offensive about that. Nobody was drunk or disorderly, there was no booty shaking or permiscuous dress, no drugs, no alcohol and nothing being peddaled... just a friendly gathering. Ok so there were a few cigarrettes.

The jam went on for maybe 30 or 45 minutes before the cops came, waited til the song was over and ordered everyone to disperse. The folks there had signs saying things like "Music is our birth right, and for it we will fight!", "Free the spirit of Bangalore! Music=Life! Don't kill the song!".

How sad.

I have never felt like more of a hippie activist than at that moment as we all just stood and looked at the cops with faces like, "really? seriously? how f'ing lame are you? what if it were a group of school children? would you make them stop singing too?". We eventually dispersed once the point was made. Nobody wanted to get arrested this time. Maybe if there are more people.

That kind of social control sucks.

On a happier note... Em and I are living in Varkala- google it, it's gorgeous. She got a kick ass job at Trivandrum International School and we've rented a 5 bedroom house there that is fantastic. I'll write more about that at another time. You should all come visit, unless you're scared of big f'ing spiders and cock roaches. The pics here are real, not doctored at all. These are average size spiders that come in two or three at a time nearly every time it rains (its monsoon season... so every day). The match box there is about an inch and a half long... that should give you an idea. And I don't know if they're poisonous.


In the last weeks I have truly learned to appreciate some things that I may not have appreciated so much before. There is no hot water unless we boil it on the gas stove. When I shower I just pretend I'm in a tropical waterfall... cuz I kind of am. We have a well that is attached to a pump fortunately, so we only have to pump water into the reservoir on the roof about twice a day. There is no refrigerator and vegetables and fruits spoil very quickly, so every two or three days we get groceries. Eggs are good sitting out for a few days without refrigeration... no problem. Buy a dozen and a half at a time and we're set for three or four days. There are sugar ants that find their way into anything, so things have to be sealed very tightly. We wash our clothes in a bucket and hang them on the indoor line.... for about three days. It's not uncomfortably humid here or hot, but the clothes just absorb the moisture. There's no TV- thank God. Just my computer to watch DVDs if we want. Soon we'll have internet access there so I can share some more stuff and be a little more connected. I'm glad there's no TV though. The beach is about a fifteen minute walk. To get there we pass by two temples that broadcast prayers periodically throughout the early morning and the day... into the night. It is annoying at first but then I reallize that no matter what language or how it is sung... how could prayer be annoying? It's not something that invades my dreams, so I don't mind. The streets are slightly paved, and slightly muddy water in pot holes... wet feet quite often here. In the backyard we have coconut trees, banana trees, a guava tree and I think a Jack Fruit tree. If youve never seen a Jack Fruit... lookit up, it's pretty gnarly. It's the size of a watermellon and kind of spikey on the outside and it hangs from the trunks of trees. When you break it open there is a rich and sweet yellow fruit inside that like a pomegranate on a much bigger scale, houses seeds the size of brazil nuts. I'm not sure if there is one there or not because they just passed out of season. So did the mangoes. There are like 100 kinds of mangoes in India... and they all are fantastic!

The food here is phenomenal. I love to eat, and cook... so I'm trying to find people that will teach me.

I'll write more soon but for now I have some stuff to take care of before I get on the night train for Varkala.


I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Much Love,

Chris